Chapter 22: An Outing

                                    

                                          
Maybe, just maybe, Alfred had a chance.
-
The day did not start the best. Ivan knows this. 
It is barely breaching afternoon, yet so far he'd been threatened by an overprotective brother, had an emotional crisis, got trapped under Alfred, got threatened again, and then Alfred said he fell for him (which he took seriously).
So yes, Ivan could say he's had a stressful day.
That brings them to now, both nations awkwardly sitting on the couch while Ivan hides his red face in his scarf.
Ivan hears Alfred sigh, before shuffling next to him. On instinct, Ivan tenses, but eventually relaxes as Alfred doesn't seem to be doing anything.
"So..."
Alfred starts, and Ivan looks up from his scarf with rosy cheeks and heavily lidded eyes. When Alfred looks at him to continue speaking, he goes quiet. Once he shakes his head, he clears his throat and says,
"It seems whenever we try and spend time together here, we're always interrupted. Would you mind if we got out of the house for a bit?"
Ivan ponders his question, but sees nothing wrong with it. He shrugs, but nods nonetheless. The small upturn of lips has returned to his face, and he lowers his scarf. Alfred physically brightens, his million mega-watt smile gracing his features.
"Where do you propose we go?"
Ivan askes hesitantly, a slightly worried look on his face. Alfred places a hand on his chin in thought, but eventually nods.
"There's a pretty good picnic place just down the road."
Alfred says, his golden hair bouncing. Ivan sees an opportunity, and to hopefully recover his dignity from earliers experience, says with a sly grin,
"Sounds like Fredka is asking me on a date~"
Instantly, Alfreds face is ablaze, and he can only spitter in response. Ivan roars in laughter, the sound startling birds outside. 
"I kid, I kid. Quite the red face you have there, Fredka."
Ivan chuckles, not noticing Alfred's look of relief at not being caught. In reality, he was thinking of it as a date, and was worried he got caught. Oh well, oblivious fucks they may be, atleast they're entertaining!
"Yeah, yeah. A date, can you imagine?"
Alfred laughs nervously, avoiding eye contact. He shakes his head, and quickly stands, pulling a suprised Ivan up with him.
"I'll go get the basket and food. There should be a blanket in your bedroom, if you could go fetch it please?"
Alfred directs, pointing towards the door. Ivan nods, and Alfred flees the living room in a hurry. Ivan raises an eyebrow to this, but shrugs and walks down the hallway.
Upon entering the bedroom and opening the long cupboard, he's struck with confusion and slight intimidation at just how many blankets there are.
"Fredka, what blanket do you want!"
Ivan calls out to Alfred, getting a 'you choose!' in response. Shaking his head, he grabs one at random. It's fluffy, but not to the point grass will easily stick to it. (In the back of his head, he notices it's black, yellow and white, but he quickly pushes the thought away.)
Folding the blanket smaller so as to fit in the basket, he heads out of the bedroom to where Alfred is standing at the entrance of the apartment.
Ivan hands him the blanket with a smile, and in return Alfred gives him a wink. This, of course, throws Ivan completely off guard, and he just stands there stupidly as Alfred opens the door.
"Ready?"
Alfred askes, grinning. Ivan just sighs in amusement, and follows him through the door.
-
After 10 minutes or so (the place really was quite close) they managed to find an open spot, shadowed by a great willow tree with leaves gently swaying in the breeze.
As Alfred sets the blanket down, they both settle on the soft fabric contently. The sky shines orange, signaling afternoon is on the horizon. 
Without realising it, Ivan had sat very close to Alfred on instinct. This gave him an idea when he looked down at their hands. Slowly, with enough time for Alfred to pull away, he entertwines them. 
Alfred turns to him with a questioning look (was there a blush on his cheeks?) but sighs and turns back with a smile. Ivan continues to steal glances at him, and he's sure if Alfred had continued to look at him, he'd had seen the love-sick expression present.
But he didn't. And so, they continued to snack on sandwiches in silence, one hand holding the other as they watch they sun slowly set.
"Hey Ivan?"
"Da, Alfred?"
"...thank you for being my friend."
"Thank you for being mine."
-
Heyooo! Wow, uh, got a little bit of the feels at the end lol. Anyways, sorry, no cat picture, just a dragon I painted. What do y'all think? Any good? I'm handing it in for art society Eistedfodd, so here's to hoping it'll get accepted! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed, Goeiemorê, middag, aand of nag!